Authored by: Celia Dallas

VantagePoint: First Quarter 2017

The start of the year is always a good time to focus on personal improvements with resolutions. In this edition of VantagePoint, we share in the spirit of a new year by providing investment resolutions: Ten Temptations to Resist in 2017 Chasing macro and political developments Investing while looking through the rearview mirror Sticking with…

Outlook 2017: A Break in the Clouds

Change is in the air and the prospect for a bit of sunshine to break through the overhang of slow growth and lower-for-longer yields is palpable. Of course, the sun doesn’t shine forever, and overall our views are little changed. The things we have been worried about for some time—high valuations for certain risk assets, record-low interest rates, slow economic growth—have not gone away. The surest call to make for 2017 is that higher growth expectations will be paired with the distinct possibility of negative outcomes, putting a premium on diversification and liquidity management.

Brace for Volatility

In light of markets’ initial reaction to the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, we wanted to remind clients of our approach to portfolio management by providing thoughts from our Chief Investment Strategist, Celia Dallas.

VantagePoint: Fourth Quarter 2016

Advice in Brief Bond yields have reached extreme levels this year amid soft growth, continued central bank purchases, and negative interest rate policies, dragging down prospective returns for a variety of asset classes. Capital markets are unlikely to deliver most investors’ long-term return objectives over the next five to ten years. In such an environment,…

VantagePoint: Second Quarter 2016

In this edition of VantagePoint, we discuss the potential implications of negative interest rate policy (NIRP). In addition, we consider the potential for sustained outperformance in value stocks, which experienced a sharp revival in the second half of the first quarter, noting that we would continue to own value in portfolios, but would not broadly overweight just yet. Energy-related assets and emerging markets equities seem a better way to obtain value-based exposures today. At the same time, we are keeping a close eye on credit markets in search of value opportunities. Finally, we review the outlook for Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS), which we believe offer modest opportunity to outperform relative to nominal Treasuries should headline CPI follow the increase experienced in some of the stickier prices in the index.